Ministry of Finance has revealed discussions are underway to seek foreign grants worth USD 215.37 million from international financial organisations to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy of the Maldives.
In a paper submitted to the Parliament of the Maldives on the efforts to seek and manage cash flow to ensure the provision of basic services without interruption, the finance ministry provided details of the foreign grants which are being pursued by the Maldives. As such, the ministry revealed the Maldives is seeking USD 30.10 million from the World Bank, of which USD 10 million has been made available through the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT DDO) under an agreement signed in 2019.
Furthermore, the ministry noted discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on providing a grant of USD 30 million have been completed, and are awaiting approval from the board. The ministry added a further USD 20 million has been arranged from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), with funds about be released.
The paper detailed several other grants which are currently at the discussion stage, including USD 27.6 million from the Asian Development Fund (ADF), USD 5 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), USD 25.59 million from the Islamic Development Fund (IDF), USD 50 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), USD 1.5 million from the SAARC Development Fund (SDF), USD 25 million from the HSBC-STO Trade Finance Facility and USD 180,000 from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The finance ministry anticipates a total of USD 215.37 million to be received as foreign grants from 10 different international organisations. The paper further stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also conducting discussions to acquire foreign grants through bilateral relations established with different countries.